In the fall of 2025, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) rolled out a new curriculum published by Amplify called CKLA (Core Knowledge Language Arts). It is now used in all elementary schools across the county to teach reading. It calls itself a ‘science-of-reading’ curriculum (code for phonics-based) and combines the deductive teaching of letters and sounds with the introduction of content from other disciplines such as history and science. The curriculum was chosen in direct response to criticism that MCPS was not teaching enough of the science of reading. This fall will begin its second year in Montgomery County.

How is it going? Well . . . meh. I have heard mixed results. Some say it is helpful. Others, especially instructors in schools with struggling students, find it not helpful at all.

Most of the curriculum is taught with all students together in one group. This can be efficient for teaching a concept to the whole class but problematic for students coming in with widely divergent levels of ability. This is invariably the case in Montgomery County with a highly mobile and diverse population where one classroom could have kids who grew up in different countries, kids who moved into the county 5 years, 1 one year, or one month ago, and those with highly involved families mixed in with those who get no reinforcement from home. The curriculum tracks the highest level learners and feeds them rich content to enhance their reading experience. But those below grade level can easily get lost, fall behind, and never catch up.

A teacher in Los Angeles sums it up like this: “The curriculum is ‘great’ in that all the components of lessons are designed to really provide deep, quality instruction and learning. On the other hand, the curriculum is ‘trash’ in that it’s pacing plan is unrealistic and detrimental to students not already at grade level.”

“This is especially difficult with our student population,” another first-grade teacher explained, “because we have so many children who come in not speaking English. This is an unrealistic expectation, and it certainly doesn’t make it inviting.” (https://nancyebailey.com/2020/01/24/problems-surrounding-amplifys-core-knowledge-language-arts-to-teach-reading/)

If, as is the case with many of our ‘Community Schools,” a majority of the classroom is behind grade level, a teacher must scramble to make any of the curriculum work at all for their class!

This former elementary teacher assesses the format of CKLA as such: “It’s developmentally inappropriate in that it forces young students to sit and listen for pretty much 45-minute blocks regularly with little opportunity to move, talk, etc. It is written to be 2 grade levels above the grade level it is teaching. Honestly in some cases it feels even further than that. The topics taught feel inaccessible for the ages learning them. For example, 2nd graders study the War of 1812, fifth graders study the Reformation of the Catholic Church and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

But one can point to problems beyond the curriculum itself. Switching curricula every few years to try to get the best fit can contribute to the ‘salvation by curriculum’ mentality e.g. if we just get the right curriculum in hand, kids will automatically be set up for success. But a curriculum is not a teacher; it is a tool a teacher can use to educate – and there’s a difference. Imagine creating one architectural blueprint for every house, office building, and school to be built in the next year across the United States. Without adaption, consideration of context, functionality, climate, landscape, and the starting point of each project, the end products would be ludicrous. So it is with helping children know how to read.

Which brings us to the role of training and coaching (see myth #2). We cannot assume that teachers already know how to teach reading – not with a new curriculum, not with the science of reading. No matter how good the tool is, the craftsman still needs to know his/her craft! Unless the county radically changes the amount of support teachers get in implementing this new material into their classrooms, CKLA may be no more effective than its predecessor.

Changing curricula will not, in and of itself, bring about a sea change in literacy in Montgomery County. What will? Stay tuned for more mythbusting blogs. Or . . .

Come this Thursday, August 27 to our Advocacy Organizational Meeting and find out more!
5:30 – 7:00 p.m. at our Germantown office: 12850 Middlebrook Road, Suite #400, Germantown.